Now available at Toys ‘R’ Us, the Disney Store, DisneyStore.com and the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts, we first came across Disney Pook-A-Looz last year at the Disney D23 Expo and instantly fell in love. Their official tagline is Too cute for their own good and we couldn’t agree more!

The quirky, offbeat take on classic Disney characters was inspired by the urban vinyl toy culture which has progressively been taking the nation by storm and helps to accentuate physical features that the characters are traditionally known for.

‘We focused on capturing one key element, gesture or trait of each character during the design process. We wanted the look to be very unique, quirky and cool,’ said Jose Zamora, lead designer. ‘When you think of the Queen of Hearts, you think of her mouth, so we brought that out in the design. With the Cheshire Cat, you think of the teeth. So we focused on that famous grin.’

The initial collectible set of 20 is available from DisneyStore.com and some individual Pook-A-Looz can be found Disney Store retail locations, the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort and at Toys ‘R’ Us which also sells Pook-A-Looz-inspired accessories such as keychains and clothing with more on the way. Some Pook-A-Looz, such as the Jack Skellington and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas can only be found at the Disney theme parks and keep an eye out for seasonal and other Pook-A-Looz in the future such as the Muppets collection which is expected to be released in Fall of 2011 (and consider this our request for Maleficent). Be sure check out the official Disney Pook-A-Looz website for more information and photos (including their really cute backsides).

With special thanks to Disney Consumer Products, we have hi-res images of the initial collection. We do advise that if you own a pair of sunglasses with cuteness protection factor of at least 15, that you wear them before clicking the thumbnails below. We’ve also thrown in a few of our own photos from the Disney D23 Pook-A-Looz exibit including our most prized possession — the D23 exclusive Steamboat Willie keychain.

The Disney Pook-A-Looz plushes retail for $12.99 each while the keychains retail for $7.99 each.

Star Wars Weekends 2010 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World resort is slowly creeping upon us and the news is starting to seep in. So far we’ve learned about the extremely limited edition and extremely awesome Stitch as the Emperor’s Hologram action figure (buy us ten!), the celebrity guest list and little more.

Today, the tides have changed a bit (probably due to the Forest Moon of Endor) and we have news from the Disney Parks blog on upcoming SWW exclusive pins, including Annual Passholder and — for the very first time — DVC Member exclusive items as well as special pins and sets commemorating the 30th anniversary of Empire Strikes Back.

Brad Raymond and Helen Kalafatic, director and producer of Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (available on Disney blu-ray and DVD on September 21) will be at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival Saturday, April 3 greeting guests at the Pixie Hollow Fairy Garden from 2:30 – 3:30 pm.

For more information on the film and to see stills and a sneak peek, click here.

After the final episode, longtime “Lost” fan Jimmy Kimmel hosts an hour-long analysis of and farewell to one of television’s most beloved series with appearances from executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, alternate endings, and live interviews with cast members.

“Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost” is the culmination of a six year-long relationship between “Lost” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Each Tuesday night, Kimmel discusses the show and features “Secrets of ‘Lost’” (comedic “insight” into the mysteries of the island from Evangeline Lilly, Michael Emerson, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Elizabeth Mitchell, and more). Cast members including Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Michael Emerson, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Terry O’Quinn and former cast members Dominic Monaghan and Elizabeth Mitchell appear regularly on Kimmel’s couch, and producers Lindelof, Cuse and JJ Abrams make regular guest appearances as well.

Although it’ll still be another couple of days before anyone can actually experience them on the new iPad from Apple, the iPad apps floodgates opened today and Disney quickly debuted and previewed a slew of iPad exclusives from all across the Walt Disney Company family.

Disney Digital Books has offered up a couple of its interactive storybooks in the form of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, even offering the former for free. The Toy Story 2 Read-Along is $8.99 but that also includes a one month’s subscription to the online service where hundreds of interactive Disney books are already online with more added monthly. In addition to the Toy Story iPad apps, Disney Publishing will soon be offering apps featuring stories from The Princess and the Frog, Phineas and Ferb, Winnie the Pooh and — of course — Toy Story 3.

As part of its ongoing strategy to provide original creative content where and how consumers want it, Disney will offer applications from all of its businesses on the new Apple iPad.

The ABC Player app extends the reach of ABC.com’s full episode player onto the iPad. iPad users will have the ability to watch free, ad-supported episodes from approximately 20 popular ABC series through a wi-fi connection. The application will also allow iPad users to purchase downloads of episodes via the iTunes store. The ABC iPad app brings the full experience of ABC.com’s Emmy Award-winning full episode player to a touch-screen, handheld device for the first time. Additionally, the ABC.com site is now optimized for the iPad, complete with full-functionality for all its features, including short-form video.

Disney Publishing Worldwide has built two original “Toy Story” read-along apps for the iPad, both combining Disney stories and unique activities with cutting edge technology. Each “Toy Story” read-along is an immersive multimedia experience – the books feature video from the feature films, karaoke and voice record features, the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, songs from the movies, original games, and even an interactive coloring feature that lets kids finger-paint with up to 10 fingers on the screen. The “Toy Story” app is free and the “Toy Story 2” app is $8.99 and comes with a one month free subscription to disneydigitalbooks.com. In addition, new “Disney Princess,” “Phineas & Ferb,” “Winnie the Pooh” and “Toy Story 3” apps will go live on the iPad later this spring.

Disney Online has built a custom iPad version of its flagship website, Disney.com, which focuses on exclusive video content. iPad videos featured at launch include new scenes from highly-anticipated Disney films “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” full-episodes of popular Disney Channel and Disney XD series “Hannah Montana,” “Wizards of Waverly Place,” “Suite Life on Deck” and “Phineas & Ferb,” and a new Muppets music video, “Stand by Me.”

“The iPad provides a very compelling consumer experience, and we are pleased to have new forms of original, interactive content on this great device,” said Bob Iger, President and CEO, The Walt Disney Company.

In addition to the ABC player and “Toy Story” read-along apps, Disney, ABC and ESPN will launch the following applications:

Although lower attendance was expected for the Tokyo Disney Resort in its 2009 fiscal year (April 1, 2009 – March 31), especially in comparison to the resort’s 25th Anniversary in 2008, performance was higher than anticipated. So much so, that 2009 saw the second highest attendance in the Resort’s history with 25,818,000 guests visiting Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea combined.

Park officials attribute the high attendance to new attractions such as Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek and Turtle Talk as well as DisneySea’s first Halloween event.

The Resort has seen almost 500 million visitors since its debut in 1983.

Walt Disney Records will release the original soundtrack for Walt Disney Pictures’ and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME on May 25, 2010. The recording features an epic, romantic sweeping original score written by award-winning composer Harry Gregson-Williams and an end credit song performed by multiple Grammy® Award-winner Alanis Morissette (“I Remain”). PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME hits theaters Memorial Day Weekend, 2010.